


Tiny Jellybean Munchkin Armrest

by snekwami



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alix Appreciation Week, Gen, I'm just dumping all the prompts I wrote on here because my tumblr blog is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-26 03:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snekwami/pseuds/snekwami
Summary: It's Alix Appreciation Week let's gooooooo





	1. Blades

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @wearemiraculous for making all these character appreciation weeks!! Alix is my fav so I had to do something like every single day, hehe. (I posted all these on my tumblr @queenkubdel too, plus some drawings and stuff)

It was Alix’s 6th birthday, and she was _miserable_.

All she wanted was a skateboard, like all the cool big kids at the park! Was that too much to ask for? She wasn’t a little baby anymore, she could totally handle it. Jalil had promised he would buy one for her birthday, having saved up his pocket money practically all year, and she had been looking forward to it. It would have been so awesome.

But her father had denied the request point blank. Apparently skateboarding was too “dangerous” for a young child, even though she wasn’t _that_ young anymore, and he had forbidden Jalil from buying one. Of course, Jalil had then thought about buying one for himself and sneakily letting Alix use it too, but their father had forbidden that as well. No skateboards allowed whatsoever.

So it was with a heavy heart that Alix awoke on her 6th birthday, expecting the worst. How long she had watched the kids at the park skateboarding around in total freedom, wishing she could join them! And what kind of lame present would she get instead? Probably some boring history textbook or something. Her family were like that.

“Cheer up!” her father said, noticing her dejected face as she sat in front of the pile of birthday presents awaiting her. “You can have a skateboard when you’re older.”

“But I am older!” she said, pouting.

“Wait until you’re at least 12 years old.”

12 years old? Double her current age?! There was no way she could wait that long!

“And when you’re 15,” her father continued quickly, seeing that she was about to shed some rather angry tears, “I’ll give you the best present you’ll ever get. You’ll see.”

Well, if her _father_ was saying it was the “best”, it was probably going to be the opposite. Like a dusty old manuscript or a fancy dress. Her mood sank even further.

Jalil sat down beside her and put an arm around her. “Hey, I think you should open your presents now. It’ll cheer you up. Mine first!”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Hopefully Jalil would have got her something nice anyway, even if nothing else could fill the void that the lack of skateboards had left. He was thoughtful like that. And if her dad really had got her a history textbook, she could always just give it to Jalil so he could be all nerdy and studious like he wanted to be.

Reluctantly, she tore the wrapping paper off his present. It was some kind of box… a board game maybe? There was writing on it but the words were too long for her to bother trying to read right now, so she took a look at the picture on the side of the box to see…

No way – these were a thousand times cooler than a skateboard –!

“ROLLERBLADES!!!” she yelled, leaping to her feet.

“Yeah! Do you like them?”

Alix was already hugging the box, a huge smile on her face. “I love them! These are so COOL! Thank you thank you thank you!”

“I got a helmet and knee pads and stuff too, so you have to wear those, okay? And I’ll help teach you how to do it, so don’t try it without my help, and…”

He trailed off, noticing the expression on their father’s face. Alix quickly put the box back down, hoping Jalil wasn’t going to get into trouble, and especially hoping her wonderful new skates wouldn’t be taken away from her before she even got a chance to try them out and brag at the other kids how much cooler than them she was now.

Their dad sighed. “Jalil…”

“Well I didn’t buy her a skateboard so I didn’t do anything wrong,” he mumbled.

There was a long silence before their father finally replied. “I suppose that’s true. Fine.” A rather unexpected smile appeared on his face. “Alix can keep the rollerblades. But no skating without my permission, alright?”

Alix nodded, fully expecting to break that promise at some point. She had rollerblades now, actual, real rollerblades! Who cared about skateboards when _these_ existed? From now on it didn’t matter how small she was – she was going to be the fastest kid alive, and no one would be able to stop her!


	2. Hero/Villain

The Snowclones were spawning at an alarming rate, blocking off all the exits of the school. Ladybug already seemed to have her hands full trying to fight her way out so that she could chase after the main akuma villain, ignoring all these tiny violent minions, but it was proving too much for her to handle by herself. Chat Noir was surrounded and unable to help, having to dodge icicle projectiles multiple times per second. The remainders of the class huddled on the stairs as the Snowclones advanced towards them.

Why did Hawk Moth have to ruin their day again? Alix had just been heading to baseball practice, ready to go have some fun after a long day of boring schoolwork, only for an akuma attack to happen! Now she was stuck here until it passed. Judging by how badly the superheroes were doing, she wasn’t expecting it to be over quickly.

Well, it wasn’t like the class hadn’t fought akuma villains before, even with makeshift weapons like dinner plates and rickshaws. A bunch of tiny snow monsters really weren’t that bad, were they? And if Ladybug and Chat Noir didn’t get any help right _now_ , they’d all be doomed. Forget just sitting and watching.

Alix got to her feet, brandishing her baseball bat in her hand.

“What are you doing?” Mylène asked, still curled up on the top step.

Alix grinned. “I’ve always wanted to beat up someone with a baseball bat.”

“You’re going to fight the Snowclones yourself?!”

“Of course I am. Wanna join me?”

Without waiting for a reply, she ran down the steps and aimed a hefty swing at the nearest Snowclone, bashing its icy brains out. Damn, that felt _good!_

Of course, it wasn’t that easy. Several of the nearby Snowclones seemed to be trying to pelt her with those sharp little icicles that stung more than was comfortable. Then again, they kind of looked like little baseballs, didn’t they…?

With another few swings, the next several lines of Snowclones were knocked aside and smushed into goo on the walls. Mylène cheered from up on the stairs. This was actually kind of fun – how must it feel to be a superhero and get to do this stuff all the time? It would be amazing!

Not much later, the number of Snowclones in the room had decreased enough that Ladybug and Chat Noir could break free of the battles they’d got into and finish off destroying the last few stragglers.

“Thank you so much for your help!” Ladybug called, before yoyo-ing out of the school doors.

“You were awesome!” Chat Noir added, finger-gunning, then following his lady and leaving the school.

Alix watched them with a smile on her face. They were so lucky! She had so much energy to spare for times like these, and yet didn’t have the powers to make good use of it. Surely she deserved a better weapon than just an old baseball bat.

 

 

 

 

“I have a present for you, as a thank you for your help earlier,” Chat Noir said. “But it’s top secret. You can’t tell anyone.”

Alix looked around. There was no one in sight at all. “Uh, yeah. Okay.”

“I’m going on holiday next week and the city can’t do without its fabulous cat hero, can it? I need someone to fill my shoes while I’m gone. Someone like you!”

She took a step back. “Wait, what?! ME?”

“Yeah, you!” Chat had a rather familiar, supportive-looking smile on his face, reminding her so much of someone she knew, but couldn’t quite put her finger on. “You’re a hero with or without a mask, you have the spirit to fight villains and do what it takes to save the city! Just like you did today.”

“I just did that ‘cause I wanted to go to baseball practice!”

“But still, you beat up a bunch of akuma villains with a baseball bat. That was hardcore. You’d be _batty_ not to accept my offer.”

She tried not to roll her eyes at the pun. “Okay, fine. It’ll be fun.”

“Good. Now close your eyes…”

“What, do I not get to see your secret identity?”

“No, of course not! My kwami will tell you everything you need to know.”

“Kwami…?”

 “Shhh, he’ll explain. No peeking!”

She closed her eyes and waited. There was a bright flash visible from behind her eyelids, followed by the sensation of someone sliding a ring onto her finger, then footsteps as they ran away.

An unfamiliar voice spoke – a lazy, drawling one. “You can open your eyes now, he’s gone.”

Alix opened her eyes to see what looked like a tiny black cat floating in front of her. Was it… was it _real?_ She tried to poke it, but it drifted aside.

“I’m Plagg. I’m a kwami. I give you the powers of destruction as long as you feed me cheese. You’re officially Chat Noir now. Congratulations. If you want to transform, just say ‘Plagg, claws out’. Don’t tell anyone.”

A tiny flying cat was speaking to her. A _magic_ tiny flying cat. One that sounded rather sarcastic. Surely this couldn’t be real.

Well, there was only one thing to do. She clenched her fist and held it out, a huge grin on her face. “Plagg, _claws out!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone said they wanted me to carry on with this so I miiiiiight write it as a full story at some point. Maybe. We'll see.


	3. Favourite Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huehuehue I CHEATED, read it and weep!

It was that time of year again.

Every shop window was advertising specially themed chocolates, cards, flowers, every radio station blasting out love songs non-stop, every pavement of every street filled with couples holding hands and using this day to be as mushy in public as they wanted without the usual repercussions. The very air was filled with the stench of romance, so thick it weighed down on everything, worming its way into every nook and cranny and smothering everyone like a blanket of stale marshmallows.

In other words, it _sucked_.

Alix hurried to school facing straight ahead, ignoring anything that made this day different from any other. Hopefully during class she’d be free from it, right? She could always just zone out and ignore anything the teacher was saying if she needed to.

Unluckily for her, she didn’t even make it to class unscathed. While pulling textbooks out of her locker and stuffing them into her bag, Marinette shuffled into view, a ridiculously bright blush covering that freckled face of hers.

“Hi Alix!” she squeaked, waving enthusiastically for a few seconds before clearing her throat and seemingly trying to appear less nervous. “I, um, just wanted to say hi to you before everyone else b-because I – well not that I don’t want you to say hello to anyone! N-no wait… what I mean is…”

Her face glowed so bright it was like she had eaten one too many tomatoes. Did Marinette always stutter like that all the time? Usually she only did that around Adrien, right? But then again she hadn’t spoken to Alix for quite a while, seeming to just run off whenever getting near her, so if her attitude had changed in the meantime then there was no way of knowing.

“What do you want, Marinette?” Alix said. “Just spit it out.”

She was already half expecting it. Everyone knew what Marinette’s stuttering meant. But that didn’t make it any less awkward when Marinette finally managed to stammer out, “Will y-you be my Valentine?” before hiding her face behind her hands and taking a step back.

So, the class rep herself had been hit with Cupid’s arrow in the cruellest way possible, huh? Alix sighed. “If I say no, will you get akumatized?”

Marinette shook her head frantically. “No, of c-course not! Don’t worry! I… I just… um… bye!” She ran off without another word.

Well, hopefully that would be all. Why did Marinette like her, anyway? Usually people found her intimidating. Or annoying, that too. Not worth hanging out with much. Whatever Marinette liked her for, it had to be something superficial, since no one in the class knew her very well at all.

Alix stood up on the lower shelf of her locker to reach the things she had put at the top – why did these lockers have to be so _tall_ , seriously – only for her fingers to close around a loose slip of paper. She pulled it out and had a read.

_I know you probably don’t think of me this way, but you’re so brave and inspiring and I wish I could pluck up the courage to ask you to be my Valentine in person. But I can’t. So have this letter instead, as a token of my feelings. I hope you have a great day today, whoever it’s with. ~J_

Seriously? Did Juleka really think Alix wouldn’t recognize her handwriting? No one else dotted their “I”s with stars. Maybe Juleka wanted her to know it was her, though, at least subconsciously, and so didn’t even try to hide it.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t change anything. Alix stuffed the note in her pocket, slammed the locker door shut, and looked around for Juleka. Probably best to just return this note as soon as possible before that gothy bundle of nerves spent too long getting worked up waiting for some kind of reaction.

She ran up the steps to the classroom two at a time, not looking where she was headed, only to directly run into someone at the top and bounce backwards, almost falling right back down. The person quickly turned around and grabbed her hand just in time.

“Hey dude, slow down there! You don’t wanna get hurt!”

Looking up, she saw Nino beaming down at her. Oh, thank goodness it was him and not a teacher or a snitch. She did _not_ want to get in trouble again for running in school, or her dad would kill her for real this time.

“Actually,” Nino continued, “you’re just the person I was looking for. I wanted to talk to you.”

Still holding her hand to stop her falling, he loosened his grip slightly and gently pulled her up onto the landing.

“I made a new mixtape,” he said, not looking at her now. “It’s, uh… I could send it to you. If you want. I mean, it’s for you.”

The warm smile on his face had turned into an all-too-familiar cheesy, nervous grin. The same kind of grin that so many people had on this particular day of the year, a grin that spoke volumes about how they were feeling on the inside. A grin that Alix did _not_ want to see.

“You made a mixtape for me?” she asked, trying to keep disappointment out of her voice.

“Yeah!” Nino rubbed the back of his head, looking at the floor. “It’s, um, a Valentine’s Day present, I guess, if you want it…”

Alix promptly let go of his hand and wiped her own hand on the side of her shorts. “I’m sure your mixtape is great. But um… could you send it to me on a different day of the year? Like, any other day at all? Any day that isn’t _this_ day?”

“Sure…” His face was falling.

“Do send it though. I wanna hear it.”

“Um, cool, I’ll do that…”

Why did he still look sad? People always seemed to take rejection so hard for some inexplicable reason, no matter how nice you were about it. It didn’t feel good at all, hurting people’s feelings like this… but what was the alternative then? Lying to them?

Whatever. Alix gave Nino a brief smile before pushing past him and heading to the classroom. As soon as she walked through the door she saw it there – a crimson rose, lying on her desk. Oh come on, what _now?_ Stomping over, half expecting it to be a joke, she picked up the flower and was about to toss it out of the window when she caught the faint scent drifting out of it.

No, it wasn’t normal flower fragrance… it was _perfume_. And a very familiar perfume.

She turned to the back of the classroom and slammed her hand down on the desk. “ROSE!”

Rose, who had been sitting in her seat at the back with a textbook up to hide her face, jumped and dropped the book with a thud. Her face was almost as pink as her dress.

“Y-yes?”

Alix clambered over the desk in between and made her way over, dropping the flower right in front of Rose. “I think this belongs to you. You seem to have lost it.”

Maybe an indirect rejection would be a better way to deal with poor, sensitive Rose, at least if she didn’t want another akuma on her hands. In any case, Rose blinked a few times with those giant eyes of hers, taken aback. Clearly that wasn’t the response she had expected.

“Actually… I…”

“Lemme guess, were you gonna give this to Juleka?”

Rose’s eyes had rather alarmingly begun filling up with tears, but the mention of Juleka’s name managed to stop her from actually crying. “Oh, well… I didn’t think of that, but…”

“You should do it.” That would kill two birds with one stone, as the saying went. Alix wasn’t even sure what would cause sweet girly Rose to go for someone like _her_ when Juleka was already her type, anyway. Or what would cause anyone to go for her at all.

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and vaulted back over the desks towards her own seat.

 

 

Class itself was uneventful, thankfully. By the time the bell rang Alix had almost forgotten what day of the year it was – at least, until she leapt to her feet and felt the crunch of paper in her pocket. Oh yes, Juleka’s note. Juleka herself had come into class late and there had been no chance to talk to her. Maybe it would be better to get it over with now.

Alix was just turning around to go when she felt Mylène put a hand on her arm, pulling her back.

“Alix! Wait a moment!”

She had to bite her tongue to stop herself snapping _What now?!_

“Are you doing anything later today?” Mylène asked.

“Why?”

“Well, I was wondering if…” She was twirling a strand of hair around her finger, biting at her lip. “Since it’s… Valentine’s Day…”

Really? Was this just because they sat next to each other? It wasn’t like Mylène ever willingly talked to her outside of class time, about anything other than needing a hand with schoolwork. People seemed to find the prospect of spending Valentine’s Day alone so _horrifying_ that it almost seemed not to even matter who they asked.

Or at least, that was what it looked like from what she had gathered over the years.

“Sorry, I’m busy tonight,” Alix said simply, shaking her arm free and walking off. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mylène curl up a little – okay, maybe there were a few genuine feelings there after all, oops. Still, that didn’t change her answer.

She headed to the back of the classroom as everyone else was leaving and thrust the note right into Juleka’s hands without even a greeting. “I think you accidentally put this in my locker.” She was sure it had been no accident, but rejecting Rose indirectly had worked, so maybe this would too.

Juleka was hard to read. The hair covering her face made it almost impossible to see anything, not to mention she was one of those tall people, so it was hard to see her face anyway. But her quiet mumbling did indicate some kind of response.

“Did you mean to put it in Rose’s locker?” Alix continued, lowering her voice enough that Rose nearby wouldn’t hear.

“Hrnnhrhhnnrhn,” Juleka said, the visible sliver of skin on her face going red.

“I bet Rose would love it. Don’t worry, I won’t tell her. I’ll let you do that.”

“Hrmmbbffrrrr…”

“You can do it.”

Alix gave her a thumbs up, then had started walking away when she finally heard Juleka actually speak.

“Wait!”

She turned around to see Juleka shuffling around nervously.

“Th-this was meant for you… but it’s okay. I get it. I’ll give it to…”

Her one visible eye shifted to the side as she trailed off.

“Hey, Juleka?” Alix said, trying to force herself to be nice for once. “It was pretty brave of you to tell me. Good going.”

Juleka smiled. “Thanks…”

Cool. Now that was sorted, hopefully the rest of the day would be free of any sorts of shenanigans, because honestly, this was getting kind of ridiculous. Whichever cosmic entity was up there firing Cupid arrows at all Alix’s classmates, they had a really sick sense of humour.

 

 

The rest of the day was _not_ free of shenanigans, of course. Alix was heading out of the empty locker room for lunch when someone suddenly grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and yanked her up into the air.

“Hey, midget!”

She had known who it was before she even heard the voice. “What the fuck do you want, Kim?”

He dropped her and crossed his arms. “I have a challenge for you. Well, kind of a challenge. A bet thing.”

Oh, thank goodness. Finally something _normal_ was happening on this lawless, godforsaken day. At least she could always count on Kim to be his usual annoying self. “What is it?”

“Well I wanna prove myself and no one else ever takes my challenges seriously except you, so like, I have to ask you, it’s not ‘cause I want to or anything, I…”

“Get to the point.”

“Fine!” His face had suddenly gone the colour of his hoodie – _not_ a good sign. “I bet I’m totally a way better kisser than you, so I challenge you to a competition!”

Not him too…

She smacked her hand on her forehead. “No. Just… oh god. No. Ew.”

“I’m not asking ‘cause I want to!” he said quickly. “It’s just that no one else would do it, and like… I mean, I’m definitely gonna win, but if you somehow win instead then you can take me out for dinner or something… okay even if I win I’ll take you out for dinner, how’s that…”

“Is this all just an excuse to get me to go out with you?”

“N-no! Well… unless you want it to be…”

Alix rolled her eyes. “Jeez, at least ask me properly.”

“Okay, okay… do you wanna go out with me?”

“Nope. See ya.” She shoved him aside and left the locker room, calling out a quick, “And don’t go getting akumatized over it!” behind her shoulder as she went.

Not even a second had passed before Chloé was standing in front of her, hands on her hips, haughty smirk on that cold face. “I heard that.”

“So what?” Alix snapped.

“So, I just want to say: join the club, darling!”

“Uh, what club?”

Chloé let out a little chuckle with her hand covering her mouth, like one of those evil rich lady anime villains. “The club of girls who are too good for that loser, of course! Surely you know he’s asked me out plenty too?”

“Yeah, everyone knows. I also don’t care.” She tried to walk past, but Chloé stepped into her path and blocked her way.

“Boys aren’t good enough anyway, wouldn’t you say? So boorish and unsophisticated. Don’t you think… _someone else_ would be a much better choice?”

She had her hands clasped together now, batting her eyelashes.

“I’m gonna throw up,” Alix muttered.

“Oh, you’re just like them!” Chloé stomped her foot and folded her arms, turning away. “So… so… oh, I don’t know! Rude-spirited! Tomboy! I thought maybe you’d be a little different today.”

Yeah, most people did act different on this day. But Alix acted the same every day, and if Chloé didn’t like it, then tough.

“I don’t have time for this,” she said, rubbing her aching forehead. “You’re like the seventh person to make a move on me today and it’s really weirding me out…”

“Hmph!” Chloé flounced off, her nose upturned.

Alix breathed a sigh of relief – only for every bit of relief to vanish when she heard a timid little voice from somewhere to the side.

“That was really cool of you…”

No, not another one, not again…

But sure enough, she turned aside to see Sabrina sidling over, the look of admiration on her face that was usually only reserved for Chloé.

“Don’t even try it,” Alix warned.

“Oh! Um, no, of course I won’t!” Sabrina looked down, her doormat personality suppressing anything she would have otherwise said. Was that bad? People didn’t like keeping their emotions bottled up, right? Maybe it would be better to hear her out…

“Okay fine,” Alix sighed, “just say what you wanna say and go.”

Sabrina nodded, still looking down at the floor with her hands clutched to her chest. “You’re really cool and I wish I could be more like you and I know if I ask to be your Valentine you’ll probably say no but I do want to so…”

For goodness sake, it was like being the protagonist of one of those awful dating sims – when was it going to end?!

“You’re right, I’d say no,” Alix replied, “but you know what? If you wanna be more like me, I’ll teach you to rollerskate at some point.”

Sabrina’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah. And here’s another tip: if you wanna be like me, stop being a mushy dork like everyone else.”

Sabrina’s face fell again. “I can’t help it…”

And that was the problem, wasn’t it? No one could. That was what made it even more frustrating to have to turn everyone down.

“Fine. Just… ugh, I’m getting out of here.”

Alix walked off as quickly as possible. Maybe going home for lunch was the best idea, where there would be no one else to bother her. School was being more cursed than usual today.

She was out of the school’s front doors when she heard someone calling her.

“Hey! Alix!”

It was Adrien, standing at the door of his limo and waving at her. She apprehensively waved back. Was he about to start too? She didn’t trust anyone right now.

He ran over to her. “I’m so glad to see you – you’re one of the only girls I know who doesn’t completely fangirl over me on Valentine’s Day, it’s getting so tiring…”

Her hopes shot up again. “Really?”

“Yeah! It’s so refreshing! I…” He looked past her towards the school entrance, his face filled with alarm. “Oh no, here they come…”

Alix turned around to see a bunch of squealing fangirls running through the doors, waving posters and autograph pads. Adrien grabbed her arm.

“We probably shouldn’t stay here or we’ll get swarmed – come on!”

He had pulled her into the limo before she knew it, leaning across her to shut the door. The screams of the fangirls could still be heard, but they wouldn’t be able to see anything through the tinted windows.

Adrien quickly shuffled back into his own seat, grinning sheepishly. “Uh, sorry… They’re kind of wild, aren’t they?”

Alix just nodded. Whatever she was going through today, poor Adrien clearly had it a hundred times _worse_.

“I was just going home for lunch, maybe you’d like to join me?”

“Sure,” she said. Adrien probably needed a bit of sanity in his life right now.

“Great!” He smiled that sunny smile at her, putting on his seatbelt. “I just hope Nathalie won’t tell my father…”

Alix put on her seatbelt too. Yeah, Adrien’s restrictive life sounded less appealing by the second. Hopefully by being a good friend to him, she could at least cheer him up a little.

 

Halfway through her third sandwich, sitting at the end of the long, empty Agreste dining table, it occurred to her that Adrien had shuffled his seat closer. Noticeably closer.

“Thank you for being here,” he said, resting his head on his arm, not even eating.

“Yeah, no problem,” she replied. “I wasn’t exactly having the best day either.”

“I never have a good Valentine’s Day… but you’ve made it a bit better.”

Well that was depressing. And suspicious, too. Hopefully he wouldn’t…

“You’re, um, really cool. Different.” His hand shifted over, ever so slightly, to rest on hers, far too warm to be normal. “I’m really glad you’re here with me, you know…”

“Is this a date?” Alix asked, her mouth still full of sandwich. Adrien blushed.

“If you want…”

Date? Right now that was another word for _nightmare_. Wait, was this a nightmare? Was she dreaming? Would that explain why today was so unprecedentedly bad? But no, she was wide awake, and all of this was real.

“Well in that case this isn’t a date,” she said.

“Oh, okay.” Adrien’s smile disappeared, and he took his hand back. The rest of the not-date continued in an uncomfortable silence.

 

 

By the time Alix arrived back at school, she had made up her mind that from tomorrow onwards, she was making proper friends with all these kids. It seemed like she didn’t know any of them very well at all, and had also happened to make a lot of them rather sad today. Breaking hearts was nowhere near as fun as it sounded. Perhaps by being friends with them, it would ease the guilt somewhat.

Of course, her day immediately got worse when the monthly stomach cramps hit full force – “monthly” as a loose term, considering she was only 15, and her hormones did not seem to know the meaning of the word month. She rushed into the toilets and hoped she wouldn’t be too late for class.

Running out into the locker room a minute later, she almost bumped right into Ivan, who was towering there as sullen as ever with his phone in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

“Ivan! Dude, get out of my way, I’m gonna be late for class and I don’t want another detention–”

“I wrote you a song,” Ivan grumbled.

“Uh…”

Without another word, he hit the play button on his phone. Out poured a heavy metal track that would put Kitty Section to shame. Ivan began singing unintelligible lyrics off the piece of paper – well, less like singing, more like screaming.

Alix just grabbed the phone out of his hand and paused the song. “That’s nice, but seriously, I don’t have time. But thank you for this wonderful, _sibling-like_ performance, you’re so much like a _brother_ to me dude, it’s great, I gotta go though. Bye.”

She handed the phone back and ran off, leaving him standing there bewildered. Had that got the message into his brain? Hopefully it had. And hopefully he wasn’t going to get akumatized over it. Dealing with an akuma attack today, on top of everything else, would just be too much.

 

She hadn’t been expecting anything more to happen before the end of the school day. Obviously, she was proved wrong when paired up for the next class project and sent off to the school library for research during the last lesson, and immediately began to expect nothing but the worst from her project partner. He did not disappoint.

“So,” Nathaniel mumbled, pulling a book off the shelf and passing it to her. “What’s up?”

“My level of bloodlust.”

His eyes widened. “That sounds like something Jules would say…”

“Jules? Oh, are you friends with Juleka?” She hadn’t expected him to be, considering how he always kept to himself all the time. But Juleka didn’t let just anyone call her Jules.

He shrugged. “A little, maybe?”

Alix pulled up a chair and sat down, plonking the book down on the table without bothering to look at it.  “You’re a bit like me, aren’t you? We’re the leftover classmates.”

He sat down next to her. “We really are…”

“No best friends. No true close bonds.”

“Exactly!”

At least Nath understood. He was different, of course, usually being a full-on loner, not interacting with the others at all. But he knew what it felt like. Maybe, just maybe, he would relate to her in another way too. Maybe he wouldn’t be different at all on this cursed day of this cursed year.

“Can I draw you?” he asked suddenly.

“What?”

His face had gone so red it was blending in with his emo hair. “I… you’re so… I mean, I won’t make a comic or anything! Unless you want me to…”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah whatever, you can draw me. But stop blushing.”

He just blushed even harder.

“You’re still doing it!”

He looked down, his fringe falling to cover almost his entire face. “S-sorry! I can’t help it…”

“No one can, apparently.” It wasn’t blushing she was talking about exactly, and Nath seemed to understand.

“It’s okay, I’m not asking you to be my Valentine,” he said quietly. “I know you don’t like stuff like that.”

“How do you know?”

“Just things I noticed…”

True, he must notice a lot, sitting at the back all quiet. Usually he seemed to have his head in the clouds. But maybe sometimes he paid attention to what was going on down on earth, too.

“You’ll find someone to be your Valentine someday,” Alix said, hoping she didn’t sound too fake. “Now, are you gonna start drawing me or what?”

Nath smiled. “Sure…”

 

 

The school day finally ended. Was the torment over yet? Please say it was. This day had already been too much to bear. But Alix was pulled out of her rather murderous thoughts when she closed her locker to see Alya standing there, leaning against the locker rows, sporting the tell-tale flannel she often wore, and a rather dazzling smile.

“Hey Alix,” she said, throwing out a finger-gun and winking. “You look tired. Well you must be, ‘cause you’ve been skating through my mind all day.”

Alix sighed. “How many more of these have you got?”

“Plenty. If you were a triangle, you’d be acute one. Are you from Tennessee? ‘Cause you’re the only–”

“You sound like Chat Noir.”

“Uh… is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Right now, if I’m being honest, a bad thing.”

Alya grinned. “No problem. I’ll cut down on the bad puns and cut right to the chase. How about dinner?”

“I already have dinner plans, sorry.”

Alya looked at her carefully, even adjusting her glasses slightly. “Are you just saying that because the bad puns put you off?”

“Bad puns or no bad puns, my answer is still no.”

“Hey, fair enough. I hope you have a good dinner, whoever it’s with!”

Out of everyone who had asked today, Alya had the most genuine smile on her face after being turned down. Alix smiled back, more genuine than usual too, and gave her a friendly punch in the arm. “You too. See you tomorrow.”

Alya waved and walked off happily. Was she seriously okay with it? Or was she just acting? In any case, Alix put her bag over her shoulders and started walking off too – home, finally!

Well, almost. She was almost across the courtyard when Max caught up with her.

“Alix, there you are!”

She allowed her spirits to lift ever so slightly. Max liked _dudes_ , right? At least, she thought so. She wasn’t 100% sure. But maybe he would be the first person today to not bother trying anything, and her day wouldn’t be a total disaster after all.

Of course, that was too much to ask for.

“I have a scientific experiment I need your help with!” he said. “Markov isn’t around, right? No? Good… alright, listen…” He lowered his voice. “I have never experienced an actual Valentine’s Day date before, and before I actually ask someone I have any interest in, I think it would be beneficial to go through a practice run with someone else first so that I know what to do, just as an experimental thing, and–”

“Are you asking me out?”

“Hypothetically speaking, yes.”

At least he didn’t sound very nervous about it, which was better than could be said for pretty much everyone else.

“You don’t need a practice run,” Alix said. “Just go for it.”

“But I need something first to build my expectations on! I can’t just ask out Ki– uh, someone else who I actually like, without first experiencing what such a thing would be like myself…”

“Is there, um, anyone else you can ask for help? Anyone who isn’t me?”

Max sighed. “You’re refusing, aren’t you? I understand. It’s fine.”

“Look dude, it’s not personal, it’s just–”

“You are uninterested in the fundamental concept of Valentine’s Day whatsoever, yes, I know. Come to think of it, I don’t even know why I asked you in the first place. I suppose perhaps I thought your objective point of view might help give me some perspective.”

“Uh… yeah.”

He smiled. “Well, I hope you have a good day anyway. I’ll find someone else.” Speeding up, he walked past her and out of the doors.

Alright, well that was all her classmates. Every single one of them. Surely, surely there couldn’t possibly be anyone else now. People in other classes were terrified of her, there was no way. From here on she could make it home without any more grief, without any other awkward advances, without–

“Alix! Has Max already left?”

That robotic voice flooded her with relief. She turned to see Markov whizzing over.

“Hey Markov!” she said, fist-bumping him as he came to a stop in front of her. “Yeah, Max just left.”

“Ah, I thought so. I feel like on Valentine’s Day I should leave him be to have his own adventures.”

Oh, thank goodness for Markov. He was a _robot_. Unlike every human she knew, Markov would feel the same way about this day that she did.

“Can I talk to you about something?” she asked.

“Of course!”

“Cool. Well, I’ve just had a really weird day. My classmates don’t even care about me that much, I’m not that close with any of them, but they all seem to have crushes on me… why? How? Like, how does that even happen? What do they see in me? What’s the _point?”_

Markov was silent for a few moments, processing all that, before speaking. “Romantic attraction appears to be a rather unintuitive, arbitrary human emotion. I will spare all the technical details. But in many cases, it is not necessary to know the subject well to experience attraction to them. The attraction itself involves a desire to want to get to know the subject better, much like regular friendship.”

So her classmates wanted to know her, just as she wanted to know them. They were just a bit more… sappy about it.

“As for why they all seem to like you in particular, well, there are many reasons!” Markov continued, his internal fans whirring a little louder. “As you are slightly more withdrawn, there is a mysterious charm! And yet you still have a friendly personality, and one that is spirited too. And…”

Dark blue blush circles were creeping up under his cheeks, his volume lowering.

“…while beauty is subjective, I would argue that you are rather… well, I believe the colloquial term is ‘hot’, though that denotes temperature… though perhaps that’s why my internal drives appear to be overheating…”

No way. _No way_. Alix just stared, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“Is this what it feels like?” Markov was saying now, the blush spreading all over his face. “I… I suppose I understand now…”

“If I ever meet the real Cupid,” Alix said, her hands curling up into fists, “I’m gonna strangle him.”

“What? Why?”

“He seems to think it’s funny to shoot his arrows at everyone and make them all fall for the one person he never shot anything at, ever.”

“Are you speaking in metaphors? I have trouble understanding those sometimes. It’s so poetic though, I would have no objections if you continued…”

His dotted eyes were slowly transforming into hearts, and Alix had had quite enough.

“That’s it. I’m not talking to anyone else for the rest of the day. I’m going home.”

“Oh… well have a good day!”

She ignored him and strode right out of the school doors.

 

 

Home sweet home, at last. Her father was out working late, Jalil was spending the night with some bae from uni, so Alix had the house to herself. She grabbed a bucket of ice cream from the freezer, went to her room, and turned on the TV to pick a good movie.

Oh, how nice it was to be alone! Being the class’s third wheel had never been fun, and being the class’s collective crush was even worse. At least the one person she could always count on was herself.

Well… it was a little lonely in here. It was Valentine’s Day, after all. As much as she hated to admit it, she didn’t want to spend it all by herself. For the first time her brother wasn’t here to hang out with, so someone or something else would have to do…

She picked up her rollerskates and lay back on the bed in front of the TV, holding them close. If there was one thing she could always, _always_ count on, it was these skates. They had been with her through countless races, countless challenges, the very best and the very worst of times, even being akumatized along with her.

She helped herself to a scoop of ice cream and curled up around the skates, waiting for the movie to begin.

“Someday I’ll find a real friend to spend this day with, someone like me,” she whispered to them. “But in the meantime, you’ll have to do. Happy Valentine’s Day.”


	4. Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I miss Pharaoh Alix... I had to write her for at least one prompt, anyways if I ever write a sequel to Misadventures then this will probably be in it

Pharaoh Alix, lounging on her throne with her royal sceptre in hand and pet cobra draped over her shoulders, snapped her fingers at her advisor. “Dude. Intel report. I wanna be ready before the meeting with the council.”

He cleared his throat. “First of all, welcome back, Your Majesty. Your citizens have been eagerly awaiting your return from school, as has the elected council. It will be good to have your input when governing again.”

She grinned, wondering if he was telling the truth or just being polite. “Yeah, well now that I’ve had three years of royalty school, hopefully I’ll actually do a good job at it.”

“I am sure you will.” The advisor looked down at the clipboard he had in hand. “Right. First things first, you know how much turmoil the Bourgeois Empire is in right now, having been at school there. No doubt the press will be asking for your official stance on the situation and your opinion of the new empress. Best to think of an answer to give beforehand.”

“Opinion? Yeah, Chloé’s cool, I guess.”

The advisor frowned. “Really? Most of our citizens have a rather low opinion of her. Or rather, they have a low opinion of her empire, which doesn’t seem to be doing so well right now. Though it is improving.”

“The problems are her dad’s fault,” Alix said. “Chloé’s been making reforms and stuff. She was in my class at school, she’s actually kind of okay once you get past how stuck-up she is. We actually made friends.”

“You made friends with a fellow leader? That’s good news, and I suppose your high approval rating here will give citizens an incentive to be more receptive to Empress Chloé too, and perhaps they might actually donate more to provide relief to the Bourgeois Empire…” He cleared his throat again. “Let’s see, what else… Ah yes, the kingdom of Kanté has been grateful for your abolishment of trade restrictions, and their economy is flourishing.”

“Of course.” Alix leaned on the back of her throne, crossing her arms. “Anything for Prince Max.”

“It wasn’t Prince Max who has sent the official thanks, it was his family.”

Alix waved her sceptre. “Actually he also sent me a text to personally thank me himself, since he’s my awesome best friend and everything.”

“Ah yes, your sceptre-phone receives text messages now… Do you really consider him a close friend?”

“Yeah, it’s not a bad thing, is it?”

The advisor shook his head. “No, it isn’t bad for a monarch to have close friends. But you must be careful who these friends are and what they get out of a friendship. I do trust that Prince Max has no ulterior motives, though, as a fellow member of the International Alliance and an advocate of peace and science. So being a close friend and ally of his is a good idea.”

“Obviously.” She hadn’t really thought about it in that much detail before – Max was her friend, what was the big deal about that? But he was right. Not everyone could be trusted to be friends with a pharaoh. Only the best were worthy of such an honour.

“Another thing,” the advisor continued, “is a matter of strengthening the ties between our countries. Top students from Kanté want to collaborate with our own scientists and engineers, and the country is requesting total open borders as proof of our cordial relationship.”

“Open borders are a definite yes. That way I can go visit Max all the time.”

The advisor tried to hide his smile. “You already do…”

“Yeah, but this way it’ll be cheaper, won’t it? And maybe they’ll make more robots if they team up, like Markov!”

“I believe that’s the idea. The decision will be put to a vote during the council meeting, but it is highly likely everyone would be in favour.”

“Nice! Okay, what else?”

He flipped a page over. “We’ve received news that Prince Kim has finally been able to return home, and has completed the journey safely.”

“Oh yeah, I already know that. He sent me a text.”

The advisor blinked a few times. “But… his kingdom doesn’t have portable telephones capable of text messaging… and we haven’t opened up trade with them… he can’t possibly _have_ a phone…”

“I gave him one as a present.”

“Your Majesty, you can’t just go giving phones to random princes!”

Alix stood up and put her hands on her hips, not that it made much difference to her height. “He’s not just any prince, he’s _Kim!_ My friend! And when his coronation happens in a few months then he’s gonna be a king, so there.”

“How many friends did you even make at that school?”

“Like, the entire class, I guess?”

“Hmm…” He looked down at the clipboard in thought. “That does explain a lot.”

“Explain what?”

“Why we suddenly have so many offers from distant kingdoms we’ve never associated with much before,” he said. “Many of your classmates returned home earlier than you did, didn’t they? It seems they have already begun diplomacy. We’ve had requests from Couffaine and Lavillant to establish embassies in our city, Tsurugi and the new Raincomprix Republic have been sending diplomats, and Kurtzberg is asking about housing some of their artwork in our Great Library in Alixandria as a joint cultural exhibit…”

“Yes to all of those,” Alix said. “Juleka, Rose, Sabrina and Nath are my friends too, and so is Kagami, though she’s actually homeschooled, I just met her in Nubia last year at that thing.”

The advisor looked rather stunned.

“What?”

“My apologies, it’s just… I’ve been working in this palace so long, and I’ve studied the history of our nation, the history of the politics of our world, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Young upcoming leaders all with close enough bonds to trust each other, despite the global tensions that have driven everyone apart in the past several decades. It’s incredible.”

She finger-gunned at him. “You mean incredible in a good way, right?”

“Yes, certainly. This level of support and friendship between countries has not been seen since, well, since Pharaoh Rania founded the International Alliance and ushered in a never-before-seen era of prosperity over 200 years ago!”

Alix flicked open the top of the sceptre, looking at the little hologram of Rania that popped up. “Really? So you think we’ll have another era of prosperity then?”

“I sincerely hope so. Oh, and that’s not all. Queen Marlena of Césaire has put in an application for her country to join the International Alliance, and the vote will of course take place later this summer. While I know that Princess Alya was a member of your class and you would want to vote to accept the application, her status as spymaster does make one wonder if her true reasons for wanting to join are to gain more intelligence, rather than promoting peace…”

“I know that too. The snake told me.”

The advisor almost dropped his clipboard. “I’m sorry – I – _what?!”_

“The snake.” Alix gave her cobra a stroke. “He can speak in Morse code, ‘cause he’s super smart and I taught him. He told me about Alya wanting to join the International Alliance.”

“Uh… if you say so…”

“And anyway,” Alix continued, “I’d definitely vote yes. She and that spy network have saved a lot of lives these past three years.”

The advisor shook his head in disbelief. “What’s even been going on at that school?”

“Lots. There was all that stuff with the Agreste Empire, so…”

“Ah yes, speaking of which, that’s another thing on the list.” He cleared his throat and tried to regain composure. “The new Emperor Adrien is a wildcard, and no one quite knows what to think of him. We could send spies of course, just to see what’s going on at his court, but as you knew him at school, your input would be valuable here too. What kind of ruler will he be?”

“A good one, don’t worry,” she replied. “He’s not gonna go causing wars or taking people’s land like his dad did. Not on purpose anyway.”

“It does seem that way so far. He’s already called off the invasion of Lê Chiến, and has made sure to let his subjects know he is nothing like his father. That does make him incredibly unpopular at his court, though. They think him a weak ruler. It doesn’t help that there have been smallpox outbreaks in his empire and he’s had to deal with those on top of everything else.”

Alix winced. “Smallpox still exists there? Yikes. We should send vaccines or something, right?”

“That would be a good idea, but would also signal to the world that we are ready to open up diplomacy with the Agreste Empire – previously everyone’s enemy. If you are certain that Emperor Adrien will be a good ruler, then it would be a good choice. But can we trust him to not only be a merciful ruler, but to keep his grip on the throne when many of his underlings wish to overthrow him and replace him with someone more keen on expanding the empire?”

“Yes. I trust him.”

“Are you sure?”

She tightened her grip on the sceptre. “Everyone’s sacrificed a lot for that kid, and he’s been through hell and back and is still kicking. He can do it. And anyway, he’s my friend. I have to support him.”

“Right. In that case at the meeting we can discuss exactly what sort of aid and espionage we can organize. The rest of the International Alliance might take some convincing if they’re to join our side on this, though.”

“That’s fine. Max and Nino already support Adrien too, I bet.”

“Speaking of Prince Nino,” the advisor said, smiling now, “we’ve had a request from him too. It seems he’s an amateur filmmaker, and would like to access our special effect technology in order to–”

“Request granted,” Alix said.

“Very well. It’s not an important enough topic to discuss at the meeting anyway, so I’ll let him know your reply.”

Alix had already been typing away at the little keys on her sceptre. “No need, I’m texting him right now.”

“I… alright then. How many of your classmates – well, your _friends_ – have portable phones anyway?”

“Me, Max, Kim, Nino, Alya, maybe some others but I’m not sure…”

The advisor flipped over another page. “Anyway, there are a few more things pertaining to your friends. Princess Mylène and Grand Duke Ivan are engaged. They have sent a rather interesting request, stating that although it will be many years before the wedding takes place, if it is not called off by that time for whatever reasons, they would like you to be the official flower girl.”

Alix pulled a handful of flower petals out of her pocket and tossed them at him, smirking. “Good.”

“Do you really think someone of your status should…”

“Yes.” She chucked another handful at him.

“Fine, fine. I will let them know of your answer. That is, unless you already have some means of communicating with them, considering that you already seem in the loop when it comes to news about your friends, without me having to inform you.”

“Nah, they don’t have phones, you can send a letter or telegram or whatever.”

“I shall. Now, there is one last matter I should mention, as it’s almost time for the meeting to begin, and everything else can be discussed there. The rail lines in Asia are being repaired as we speak and should make journeys across the continent much quicker, despite their lack of air travel as of yet. This means that it’s possible you may be able to attend Prince Kim’s coronation.”

“Yes!” Alix pumped a fist in the air. “Me and Max are going to that, and no one’s gonna stop us.”

“No one would dare,” the advisor muttered, glancing warily at the snake. “But yes, considering that his kingdom is a new member of the International Alliance, in order to cement his status it would be good for some other members to attend, such as yourself and Prince Max. Now, Cheng would be very close by from there, and Princess Marinette has issued an invitation for you to visit. Something about taking part in a tennis tournament.”

“Makes sense. Me and Marinette are tennis bros, we’re the best team ever.”

“I didn’t realize other young royalty were just as sporty as you are,” the advisor said, smiling. “But yes, it would certainly be a good idea to visit Cheng and foster good relations. If that involves playing tennis with Princess Marinette, then so be it. Just… please don’t get too competitive. We don’t want a war.”

“I wouldn’t cause a war over a tennis game–” Alix began, but quickly stopped when the memories of getting into brawls during lacrosse matches or trying to beat up Kim during a game of Monopoly came to mind. Yeah, maybe that was good advice after all.

“I believe that’s all the news I currently have that pertains to your classmates,” the advisor said, putting the clipboard down. “The rest can be discussed during the meeting. Now that school is over and you’ll be here permanently, it would be good for you to get into the habit of being more involved in decision-making.”

Alix nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“My pleasure. And if I may say so, I think I have a lot of faith in the new generation of rulers. You and your friends. You all seem to have peace on the mind, and after so many years of invasions and wars and frozen conflicts, that’s exactly what the world needs.”

“I guess that’s the power of friendship, huh?”

“You’ve done well for yourself. When you were a much younger child I’ll admit I thought you were somewhat… um… chaotic. But you have reached a balance, and for that, we’re all glad.”

There was a knock on the door, and Jalil popped his head around. “Alix, you’re needed in the council meeting now.”

She jumped down off the raised throne platform. “Cool, let’s go.”

Jalil left the room again, and Alix and the advisor followed towards the meeting room. In a way, this was going to be the first true council meeting Alix had taken part in – the first time her opinions and decisions would actually count for something, making a difference to her country, and by extension, the entire world. Until recently, the future of that world had seemed very grim indeed. But now? The upcoming leaders were all friends and allies with each other, dedicated to making a new era of peace and growth.

Friendship really could save the day, couldn’t it?


	5. Competition

“The rules are simple,” Max stated. “You two will race around the courtyard, and whoever finishes two laps first is the winner. Also, this time Alix’s watch has been wrapped in several layers of bubble-wrap and is sitting in a steel box protected by none other than Ladybug herself.”

He gestured to the side, where Ladybug was sitting on top of a giant box twice her size, waving.

“It’s a shame Marinette couldn’t make it this time, huh?” she said, an uncharacteristic grin on her face.

“She’ll just have to watch Alya’s recording of it.” He turned back to face Alix and Kim, who were busy warming up. “This time if you get akumatized you’ll be disqualified.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t kill anyone this time,” Alix said, smirking and cracking her knuckles. “But for the record, you guys don’t remember because of timey-wimey stuff, but I actually did win the race in the first timeline, so technically this is a rematch–”

“Yes, yes, you’ve already told us. Anyway, are you ready?”

They both nodded.

“I’ve had three cans of Red Bull in a row, I’m definitely gonna win this time,” Kim scoffed.

“Kim, that’s bad for you, please don’t drink so much caffeine next time.”

“Why not? It’s not cheating!”

Max just sighed. “Never mind. Let’s just start.” He lined them up at the starting line. “Ready? 3, 2, 1, GO!”

The race began much like it had last time. For most of the first lap Kim was ahead, but just as they started the second lap Alix managed to overtake. From there everything went downhill, and fast. Very fast.

“I’m not letting you win this time!” Kim reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of marbles, which he tossed far into the air, landing on the track and spilling everywhere. Alix swerved so far to avoid them that she almost lost her balance, and Kim was able to take the lead.

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

“No it’s not! Nothing in the rules say no marbles!”

Kim half-turned around to gloat, knowing Alix would need more momentum than she had to catch up again, only to slip on a marble himself and fall to the floor. So near the finish line, too! There were chuckles from the onlookers.

“Well if you’re gonna cheat, then I am too!” Alix said, pulling flower petals out of her pocket and throwing them at him as she passed him, making him sneeze. “Finish line, here I come!”

Kim grabbed onto one of her skates and yanked it off. “Not so fast!”

“Ow!” Off-balance now, she fell to the ground – but did not let that stop her. She began crawling towards the finish line. It was so close now!

Kim brushed the flower petals off and stood up again, only for Alix to grab one of his shoelaces and pull it undone, causing him to trip over yet again.

“Hey! How dare you, you little midget–”

“Well you started it!”

“I shouldn’t have challenged you to a race, I should have challenged you to a _fight_ –”

“Clearly you were too scared ‘cause you knew you would lose–”

Their arguing was cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat. They looked up to see Max standing over them, arms crossed, looking extremely unimpressed.

“As the judge,” he said, “I have decided that both of you are disqualified, because if I let this race carry on then it would turn into a brawl, and I’m not having that.”

They looked down again sheepishly. The rest of the classmates were all laughing away, not having taken the race seriously at all.

“You know who the real winner is?” Max continued. “ME. It’s me. I’m the winner now. You both owe me a pair of skates.”

“But Max–”

“Shush. You two were blatantly cheating, so it’s my turn too.” He turned away and walked off with a smug smile.

Alix sighed and looked at Kim. “So, uh… let’s just agree that it was a tie, yeah?”

He nodded. “Fine…”

She suddenly pulled off her other skate, leapt to her feet, and ran across the finish line. “SIKE! I crossed the finish first, I win!”

“What?! NO! Alix Kubdel, come back here, I am going to _kill you_ –”

“Ladybug! Protect meeeeee!”

She laughed and ran off, Kim chasing her and chucking marbles at her. Perhaps sneakily winning the race had not been a good idea if it meant that she was now under attack from a kid twice her size. But hey, she had a helmet on to protect her. And most importantly, she had won the race, just like she had said she would. Was it worth it? Of course.


	6. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish Jalil and Alix would actually interact in the show, they're both great

“Alix, I’m so glad you’re safe!” Jalil said as she walked into the room and threw her bag of skating equipment on the floor. “I heard there was an akuma attack, did you get caught up in that?”

Alix shrugged. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”

“Really? What happened?”

“The akuma was _me_ , Jalil.”

“On your birthday? That’s awful! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied. Unfortunately, Jalil could easily tell when she was lying. He pulled her into a hug.

“Hey, it’s alright. Lots of people get akumatized. At least Ladybug and Chat Noir managed to fix it, as usual.”

She stayed silent, deciding not to mention the fact that her vague memories of the event seemed to be hinting at her that she had _killed_ Chat Noir, and she really didn’t want to think about that.

“So what caused it?” Jalil asked, letting go and giving her messy hair a quick ruffle.

“This.” Alix pulled the watch out of her pocket and opened it, revealing the hologram inside. “Dad gave me it as a birthday present but it broke, so…”

Jalil was staring at the watch’s hologram, an astonished smile spreading over his face. “Wow, look at this tech! Where did he get it from?”

“It’s a family heirloom. Apparently it gets passed down to the youngest child on their 15th birthday. Though maybe dad just made that bit up so he wouldn’t have to give it to you.”

A bitter tone was creeping into her voice, as much as she tried not to let it. The events of earlier had put her in too much of a bad mood. Jalil still kept a smile on his face, though.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind. I’ve got plenty of historical artefacts to study already, so you deserve this one.”

“But I broke it,” Alix said, snapping the lid shut and crossing her arms. “I should have looked after it better, but I gave it to my friends to take care of during the race and then it got smashed, and it’s only fixed thanks to Ladybug’s powers, whereas you would’ve been way more careful with it…”

“That doesn’t sound like it was your fault! It was your friends who broke it, not you.”

“That’s the exact excuse Timebreaker made when she started killing people over it! I just shouldn’t have even done the stupid race…”

Jalil put a comforting arm around her. “Look, I have an idea. We’ll wrap the watch in bubble-wrap, so that way it won’t get broken again no matter who’s looking after it. Is that okay?”

She nodded, her mood lifting ever so slightly. Jalil was smart enough to have good ideas sometimes, unlike her.

“Don’t tell dad about all this,” she muttered.

“Of course I won’t.”

“I don’t think he’d take kindly to his favourite child turning out to be a mass murderer. Though maybe then he’d change his favourite child to you, so…”

“You’re not a murderer!” Jalil said, horrified.

“I’m kidding! But seriously, don’t tell him. Oh, and also…” She pushed the watch into his hands. “…you can share this with me, okay?”

“What? But… this is yours…”

“Come on, you’re a nerd, you like history stuff. This watch is way more suited to you than to me. If you wanna study it, go for it. Just give it back afterwards.”

He hugged her again, and she gladly accepted. “Thanks, jellybean.”

“No problem, beanstalk.”


	7. Future

“You can go play with the other kids now, but be good,” Marinette said, bending down to give Hugo and Emma quick hugs. “Your father and I are going to catch up with our old friends.”

“Will we get to have class reunions when we’re grown up too?” Emma asked.

“Yes, of course you can! It’s fun to see everyone again.”

“Well it’ll be fun to see _some_ people again, not the annoying ones–”

“HEY LOOK!” Hugo yelled, pointing towards the door. “It’s Aunty Alix!”

Within less than a second the two kids had abandoned their mother and sprinted across the hall to where Alix was, just putting away the hoverboard that she’d zoomed in on.

“Are you gonna teach us more swear words?” Emma asked, jumping up and down excitedly.

“We won’t tell our parents!” Hugo added.

“Or will you teach us to skate this time?”

“Can you promise to be flower girl when I marry Amber?”

“No, I’M gonna marry Amber, be MY flower girl!”

“Well if she gets to marry Amber then you’ll give me your magic pocket watch, right?”

Alix laughed. “I was gonna talk to you guys about the pocket watch actually. I have an idea about how to decide who gets to inherit it.”

“I’m shorter so it should be me!” Hugo said. “Short like you.”

“But I’m the younger sibling so the rules say I have to have it,” Emma said, giving him a shove.

“Not for long! The new baby’s gonna be born in like a month!”

“So you should give me the watch before that happens!”

“AHEM.” Alix cleared her throat and pulled the watch out of her pocket. Its technology wasn’t particularly noteworthy anymore, but it still held value as a family relic. A relic that had to be passed onto someone worthy, whether they were related by blood or not. “Have you two heard of the Hunger Games?”

“Oh yeah, that,” Hugo said. “My mum used to read those books when she was a kid.”

“And dad cried watching the movie, remember?” Emma said. “I didn’t cry though. It wasn’t that scary.”

“You so did cry!”

“No I didn’t!”

“Whether you cried or not doesn’t matter,” Alix said. “The point is, whoever wants my watch has to be hardcore enough to earn it. The other kids want it too, you know. So I’m gonna put you all in a hunger games and you guys can fight to the death for it. Then the survivor has to best me in hand-to-hand combat before receiving it. My bet’s on Kim’s little girl to win, so you guys had better get training.”

“That sounds so awesome!” Hugo began saying, he and Emma turning to each other with glee, only for their mother to appear behind them with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.

“What was that I just heard?” Marinette said. “No one’s fighting anyone to the death! Alix, you’re the one who’s responsible for my kids having a morbid sense of humour, aren’t you?”

She nodded, a grin on her face. “Someone has to do it.”

“Well then,” Marinette continued, smiling slightly now, “it’s only fair if you take part in your own hunger games too. 12 kids all hunting you down, trying to kill you so they can take your watch for themselves. Won’t that be so much fun?”

“I was kidding about the hunger games!” Alix said hastily, to Marinette’s amusement. “It’s actually gonna be a Mario Kart X battle, yeah, and whoever wins gets the watch…”

“Oh, what a shame!” Marinette chuckled and walked off.

“By the way,” Alix said to Hugo and Emma, lowering her voice, “the hand-to-hand combat bit is still true. If you want the watch, you’ll have to fight me for it.”

“But you’ll definitely win,” Emma said, pouting.

“Not if it’s a fight on Ultimate Mecha Strike V.”

“Oh! I’m good at that game! Maybe I’ll win then!”

“No, I’m better than you, so I’ll win!” Hugo said.

Alix put the watch back in her pocket. “I guess we’ll have to find out. I know, why don’t we have the competition right here at this reunion? Go tell all the other kids to meet up at the screen so we can start this tournament.”

“Okay!”

They ran off in opposite directions, so full of hyper energy that young children always seemed to have. Alix watched them, the old competitive spirit seeping back into her. None of these kids could beat her at Mario Kart or Mecha Strike, no way! Maybe Max still could, but for now, none of the new generation had surpassed her. They had no idea what they were in for…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yessss I somehow kept up for the whole week


End file.
